Man held on $500,000 Bond After Rogers Park Sexual Assault

James Shorty, 18, of Momence, Ill., has been charged in a December Rogers Park sexual assault in the 1300 block of West Lunt Avenue.
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Chicago Police Department

CHICAGO — A Kankakee County man is being held on a $500,000 bond after he was charged in the sexual assault of a 50-year-old woman near the Morse Avenue Red Line station in December.

James Shorty, 18, of Momence, Ill., was arrested and charged Tuesday in connection with the Dec. 19 assault of the woman in the 1300 block of West Lunt Avenue. A judge issued the bond during a hearing Wednesday afternoon after Shorty was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.

The woman was walking south on Glenwood Avenue near the Morse station and Lunt Avenue when a masked man grabbed her about 5:25 a.m., authorities said.

Shorty allegedly pushed her into a nearby construction site and sexually assaulted her, police said. He snatched her purse and other items before fleeing the scene, police said.

During the assault, Shorty is alleged to have threatened to kill the woman multiple times, according to court documents

The woman was taken to a local hospital, authorities said.

Cameras allegedly caught the attacker getting on a Red Line train in Edgewater at 4:50 a.m. on Dec. 19, according to a security alert issued by the CTA last month. The man got off the train at Morse and eventually exited at Lunt Avenue, where he chased the woman and then assaulted her, according to the alert.

Shorty eventually was caught using DNA evidence found on a hat he left at the scene, according to court documents. He was also identified by the victim, the documents state.

Rogers Park Police District Cmdr. James Roussell attributed the arrest to "excellent detective work," Ald. Joe Moore (49th) wrote in an email to his constituents.